The hire of Brian Schottenheimer sent shockwaves around the NFL.
In what seemed to be a combination of the “familiarity” hire and a “trying to out-think the room” hire, the Dallas Cowboys made long-time NFL offensive coordinator, and the team’s own OC since 2023, the 10th coach in franchise history.
Schottenheimer has managed to stay in the league for a significant amount of time – over 25 years (albeit with a short stint at Georgia) – and has worked as an offensive coordinator jobs for four franchises in that time.
Nowadays, journeyman style offensive coordinators do not tend to get head coaching opportunities, with owners and general managers opting to go with boy-wonder, whizz-kid types like Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan, both of whom were under 40 when hired by the Rams and 49ers.
Even this past offseason, both of the two other offensive coordinators hired this cycle, Ben Johnson and Liam Coen, fall short of the 40 year-old mark, coming in at 38 and 39 respectively. All the while, the more veteran Schottenheimer will turn 52 this year.
Jerry Jones Explains The Reasoning Behind Schottenheimer Hire
Amidst questions about the hire, Jerry Jones decided to clarify the reasons behind the appointment of “Schotty” in the team’s press conference to introduce the new hire to the world.
Part of the initial allure of his new head coach, according to Jerry himself, was understanding Schottenheimer’s background and makeup, and having a good knowledge of him both as a coach and a person.
“When I was on the competition committee we had many times when we were together” Jones said, “Jean [Jones’ wife] knew Marty [Schottenheimer, Brian’s father]…we know what Schotty grew up around, not just from that but we knew. ”
Jones Reveals Telling Reason Behind Schottenheimer Hire
Perhaps an even more telling comment came just after, where Jones notes – in explaining his new head coach’s strengths – that he had a true “deference” to authority.
“I’ve watched him have deference to his head coach, I’ve watched him have deference to experience – guys like [former defensive coordinator Mike] Zimmer. I’ve watched him bite his lip sometimes when he didn’t necessarily agree with that direction. But he bit his lip as his daddy would have told him to bite your lip – have deference.”
Despite Jones clearly meaning this as a complement; the ability of Schottenheimer to show restraint and discipline in key moments; this will not be a good look for Jones.
The narrative has been for quite some time that Jerry Jones enjoys employing “yes men” as his head coach in Dallas, much due to his desire to maintain strict control over as much of the team as possible – hence why he still serves as both the franchise’s owner and general manager.
So painting your new head coach as, first and foremost, a disciplined, “lip biter”, will do nothing to extinguish the idea that Jones, once again, is looking for a HC that he can keep under his pinky finger.
In fairness, Jones also noted that he believes the hiring of Schottenheimer was “the best way we can go to the playoffs and win“, and that the team went through a thorough process to find the best person for the job.
But with so few other tangible attributes that Jones was able to point to in his press conference with regard to why Schottenheimer was the best man for the job – combined with the minuscule list of interview candidates (only four were conducted)- makes one wonder about the true reasons behind the appointment.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Cowboys’ Jerry Jones Reveals True Reason Behind Brian Schottenheimer Hire appeared first on Heavy Sports.